CHAPTER ONE:

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Drugs are medicine or other substances which have physiological effects when ingested or
otherwise introduced into the body. Drug abuse is the matter that is at hand in every society. Drug
abuse can be described as a patterned use of a drug (substance). People use drugs for various
reasons. For instance, we take water when we are thirsty and medicine when we are sick. However,
drug can be abused. To abuse is to use something excessively or wrongly, especially drugs.
Therefore, drug abuse can also mean taking something often that your body does not need and for
the wrong reasons. If you take medicine when you are not supposed to or when you are not sick, it
is called drug abuse.

The increasing level of drug abuse in our society has considerably created a dangerous way of
living among the people especially youths and school going children. Therefore, “substance abuse
has become a human tragedy which has affected society at different levels. There are at individual,
family, community, and international levels.”

Drug/substance abuse has negatively affected the education system and its impacts have reached
alarming levels. Use of drugs may lead to criminal penalty in addition to possible physical, social,
and psychological harm. Traumatic psychological impact on young who experience sickness/deaths
in families may reduce the demand for education. And also discrimination and stigma suffered by
children in schools and classroom due to infection or peculiar behavior they may exhibit.

In trying to mitigate the problem, the governments of many countries spend a lot of money and
other resources to try eradicate drug trafficking. Law enforcement agencies from different countries
(DEC) cooperate with each other and with the international police (Interpol), organizing workshops
on the sensitization of drug abuse and other important remedial strategies. This proposal will try to
find out the extent to which drug abuse has impacted children academically in high schools in
Kabwe urban.

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 1.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of drug abuse among learners especially those

in secondary schools and the effect this has on their education.

1.3 Background of the Research Problem.

Drug abuse among teens is the great problem that has speeded all over the world. In Jamaica, the use

of drugs abuse by teenagers has more increased over the decades in studying the drug usage patterns

of Jamaican teens discovered that while usage was not dependent on sex.

In 1989, 78 percent of teens males and percent of teen female were using one of the four drugs

(alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and tobacco) between 1994 and 1995; it indicates that 60 percent of the

teens have tried one or more drugs including marijuana while 1.3 percent has used cocaine. These

alarming levels of reported drug abuse continued to grow as in 2006, one(1) in every three (3)

students in secondary schools admitted to use the hashish while one (1) of the ten (10) students

admitted to currently using drugs.

In Tanzania also the problem has speeded at large percents whereby the Students from secondary

schools has noted that are taking drug abuse. It seemed to be there the relationship between the drug

abuse and the academic performance, but most of them are negative relationship between the use of

drug and academic performance is instinctively appealing and to some extent this kind of relationship

has been proven, has established that drug abuse could result from many variables, with poor

academic performance being key variable in explaining students’ initial and continued abuse of

drugs. There is still no consensus in the literature concerning the existence of a causal link between

consumption of addicted substances and educational outcomes. On the one hand, some studies

provide evidence that, heavy drinking and drug consumption lead to a lower schooling of the

academic performance.

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 1.4 Statement of the Problem.

Drug abuse among the teens and school students seem to have detrimental effect on academic

performance. Youth are more susceptible to the short and long term cognitive effect of drug

abuse while the social and emotional repercussions further increase risk factor for problem in

school. It is important for the parents and students to learn the risk of the drug use and take

action as soon as concerns are raised to avoid serious problems in school. This problem has

become in the issue of Kabwe, Kabwe secondary school as a case study. Hence the study wants

to investigate its effect on academic performance.

1.5 Research Objectives:

1.5.1 General Objectives:

To find out the effects of drug abuse on academic performance in secondary school in Kabwe

Town.

1.5.2. Specific Objectives.

 To identify the causes of teens to engage in drug abuse at Kabwe secondary school.

 To identify the impacts of drug abuse on academic performance at Kabwe secondary school.

 To suggest the possible solutions toward drug abuse at Kabwe secondary school.

1.6. Research Questions.

 What causes teens to engage in drug abuse?

 What are the effects of drug abuse toward academic performance at Kabwe secondary

school?

 What are possible solutions toward drug abuse at Kabwe secondary school?

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1.7. The significance of the study.

The study expect to generate and add knowledge on the analysis of Drug abuse and academic

performance in secondary school in Kabwe Town as it will be helpful to those stake holders in

education to manage students in schools and hence performance will be raised.

1.8. The scope of the study.

The study will concentrate on the negative effects of drug abuse toward academic performance at

Kabwe secondary school in Kabwe Town.

1.9. Limitation of the study.

The investigator expect to face some challenges which may arise during the research work, these

challenges may be of financial problems, despite the fact that the budget has been set but there

might be occurrence of unexpected events such as money, a researcher may use more money that

are not satisfy, however new alternatives to overcome the new situation will be taken. Also the

allocated time may be short compared to the task of the provided research.

1.10. Conceptual or theoretical framework of the study.

The researcher will use social learning theory. The theory which was proposed by

Albat Bandula, this theory focus on the meaning that occurs within a social context. It considers

that people learn from one to another including learning through observation, imitation, and

modeling. According to this title which states that “the effects of drug abuse on academic

performance in secondary school”. It will help the research to use observation.

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Duration of the research

S/N ACTIVITY DURATION NUMBER OF

DAYS
1 Proposal writing Saturday 29th 2
November to 30th
November, 2023
2 Production of Monday 6th January 8
research instruments to Tuesday 14th
January, 2023
3 Data collection Wednesday 15th 28
January to
Wednesday 12th
February, 2023
4 Data analysis Friday 11
14thFebruaryto
Tuesday 25th
February , 2023.
5 Draft report writing Wednesday 26th 13
February to 10th
March, 2023.
6 Editing of the draft Thursday 13th March 2
to Saturday 15th
March, 2023.
7 Final report writing Monday 17th March 3
to Thursday 20th
March, 2023.
8 Presentation of report Friday 16th May, 1
2023.

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Budget

LOGISTICS COST
PEN AND PENCILS K10
NOTEBOOKS K 16
TRANSPORT COSTS K100
PRINTING AND BINDING K300
REAM OF PAPER K60
TOTAL K500

CHAPTER TWO:

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 LITERATURE REVIEW.
Introduction.
This chapter consists of the causes of the teens to engage in drug abuse, the effects of drug abuse
in academic performance and the possible solutions of the problem.
The following are the explanations from different existing literature reviews:

2.0. Causes of teens to engage in drug abuse.

People start taking drug abuse because of the various factors as follows;
The feeling of being good; most abused drugs produce intense feelings of pleasure. This initial
sensation of euphoria is followed by other effects which differ with the type of drug used.
Example with stimulant such as cocaine, the high is followed by feeling of power, self
confidence and increased energy. In contrast the euphoria caused by opiates such as heroin is
followed by feeling of relaxation and satisfaction.

The feeling of being better; some people who suffer from social anxiety, stress related disorders
and depression begin abusing drugs in attempt to lessen feeling of stress. Stress can play a major
role in beginning drug abuse, continuing drug abuse in patient recovering from addiction.
The feeling of doing better; the increase of some people feel to chemically experimentation their
athletic or cognitive performance can similarly play in a role in initial experimentation’s and
continued drug abuse.

To find out what like and to fit in; the adolescents in particularly are faced with this problem
because of the peer influence from their fellow friends, example to engage in thrilling and daring
behaviors. (Dee., et al 2003)
At the previous time, people thought that drug abuse are more beneficially to them, they believed
that they can control their use however drugs took quickly of their lives. If drug use continues,
pleasurable activities become less pleasurable and drug abuse becomes necessary for abusers to
simply feel normal. Drug abusers reach a point where they seek and take drugs, despite the
tremendous problems caused by themselves and their loved ones. Some individuals may start to
feel the need to take the higher or more frequent doses even in the early stages of the drug use.
(Paschall., et al 2003).

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The first decision to take drugs is mostly voluntary. However, when drug abuse takes over, a
person’s ability to exert self control can become seriously impaired. Brain imaging studies from
drug-addicted individuals show physical changes in areas of the brain that are critical to
judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. These changes may
alter the way the brain works, and may help explain the compulsive and destructive behaviors of
addiction. (Duarte, et al 2006).
As with any other disease, vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person. In general,
the more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs will lead to abuse
and addiction. No one think determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs. The
overall risk for addiction is imparted by the biological make up of the individual-it can even be
influenced by gender or ethnicity, his or her developmental stage, and the surrounding social
environment example, conditions example, conditions at home and at schools.( Duarte et
el 2006)

2.1. Effects of drugs Abuse to the Academic Performance.

Drug abuse among teens and college students has a detrimental effect on academic performance.
Young people are more susceptible to the short-and long-term cognitive effects of drug abuse
while the social and emotional repercussions further increase risk factors for problems in school.
It is important for parents and students to learn the risks of drug use and take action as soon as
concerns are raised to avoid serious problems in school. Advanced brain scan imaging has
proven that the human brain is not fully developed at puberty as previously though with
maturation occurring as late as 24 years of age. “While each drug produces different physical
effects, all abused substances share one thing in common: repeated use can alter the way the
brain looks and functions.” Common effects of drug use on the brain that impact academic
learning includes difficulty concentrating, inability to process information and problems with
working memory.

In 2007, “Almost 50 percent of 12th Graders say that they have used drugs at least once in their
lifetime, and 18 percent report using marijuana in the last month. Prescription drug abuse is high
with nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors reporting non-medical use of the painkiller violin in the
past years.”( Dee et al 2003)

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Despite the fact that adolescents have under –brains lacking the impulse control of adults,
education and parent involvement can reduce a young person’s risk drug abuse and use. Kids
who learn a lot about the risks of drugs and alcohol from their parents are up to 50% less likely
to use than those who do not. Dee, 2003).

2.2. Some possible Solution against Drug Abuse.

If they provide poor quality supervision to their children including respect to alcohol and drug
consumption, then the empirical association between education and the consumption of
substances would be spurious. In addition, more impatient children are both more likely to
smoke and drink alcohol and procrastinate with their school working duties. Thus, it is difficult
to disentangle the causal effect of consumption of drugs and alcohol per session educational
achievement. To account for this endogenously problem employs a probity model to jointly
estimate the determinants of schooling and drinking or smoking decision. (cook, 1993).

Their result indicates a negatives causal relationship between alcohol consumption and schooling
attendance. However, this study can be criticized on the grounds that it relies on the availability
of a valid instrument that is a factor has some bearing on the decision to use alcohol and drug,
but that is unrelated to schooling. Nevertheless, the accuracy of this estimation technique
depends on the power and validity of the instrument. In the former study, binge drinking is
instrumented by minimum legal drinking age. It can be argued that , states which are more lexis
with the legal drinking age and those that are more restrictively are likely to differ regarding
other characteristics which directly affect high school dropout rates, since control of variables for
the United States are not included in the analysis.. In the second study the authors try to identify
the effects of heavy drinking on high school dropout. However there is still a reverse causality
problem, since schooling performance mainly relies on students’ ability to provide regular
working effort.( Alexander, et al 2001).

Therefore the students who engaged in heavy drinking in a random month of the year, is more
likely to drop out than another students who did not. In addition, it does not solve for the election
bias. An alternatives method designed to correct for the selection on un observable propensity to

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continuously push back further scheduled activities associated with a disutility to favor short
term alternatives activities such as leisure ones. It attempts to study the effect of alcohol,
tobacco. Marijuana and cocaine use on Educational achievements. (Duarte, et al 2006).

2.3. Synthesis of the literature review.

The literature review discuss about, the effects of drug abuse to the students on how it affects
them, each drug produces different physical effects, all abused substances share one thing in
common, repeated use can alter the way the brain looks and functions.
Common effects of drug on the brain that impact the academic learning includes difficulty
concentrating inability to process information and problems with working memory.

2.4. Knowledge gap.

The literature review that has been reviewed has not shown the clearly and the exactly effects of
the drug abuse in the academic performance of the students in schools, especially statistics of the
students who are using the drugs and those who are not. This has been caused by the notion that,
the students cannot do well in their studies without taking alcohol and other chemical substances
like Hashish, Cocaine and so on. Due to this fact, the study needs to concentrate by coming up
with the best and solvable alternatives toward the effects of the drug abuse on the academic
performance of the students in Zambian schools.

CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES:

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Introduction.
This chapter comprises of Research design, Area of the study, Population of the study, sampling
techniques, Sampling size, Methods of the Data collection, Questionnaires, Interview,
Observation, Focus Group discussion, and Data analysis Techniques.

3.0. Research design.

During the conducting of the research, a researcher will use both Quantitative and Qualitative
methods, this is because a Researcher aiming at getting both statistical and descriptive data
toward the existing problem or finding. Due to this, A researcher will be in position of
accumulating more data as intended to solve the problem.
3.1. Area of the study.
The study will be done in Central Province of Zambia. Kabwe Town is located at the center of
the central province of Zambia. Kabwe is occupied by various groups of people with different
cultural background and tribes such as Bemba, Tonga, Lala, Lenje and Nyanja.
The people of Kabwe Town are the great producers of Cotton and Maize crops where they
cultivate it. Also the people of Kabwe they do engage in various economic activities like Trading
of Agricultural products and trading of Animals like cows and cattle where by the accumulate
wealth for their life improvement. Also Kabwe is covered with the potential mineral like Gold.
Therefore, the study will be done at Kabwe secondary school as the case study of the research.
This school has been selected because it seems to posses the most features of the most students
to use drugs at school, and it is easy for the researcher to reach and acquire data with the low cost
compared with other schools like Mukobeko secondary school and Saint Paul’s Secondary
School.

3.2. Population of the study.

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The study will comprise of total number of two hundred of the whole population. The study will
comprise three groups of people, such as Teachers, Students and other Non academic staffs. This
will be more successful because of the area to be very easily reachable and accessible.

3.3. Sampling Techniques.

The study will use the Simple random sampling, Systematic random sampling, Stratified
random sampling and convenience sampling, these techniques will be helpful to the researcher
to get the sample of respondents who will be involved in the study while avoiding bias to all
segments, since the researcher will go directly to the people expected to have data about the
study.

3.4. Sampling Size.

The study will use the sample size of 30% of the whole population which will be included like
school Teachers, Students and other non academic staffs to be involved in the study.

3.5. Method of Data Collection.

Data will be collected by involving variety of methods in order to get data; such as
Questionnaires, Interview, Observation and Focus group Discussion.

3.6.1. Questionnaires.
The method will be used to collect data by wanting the respondents to answer the short answers
and others to provide detailed data or information about the study. The aim of using this is to
collect the data from the respondents who live far away from the researcher.

3.6.2. Interview.
The study will use the structured and unstructured interview to gather information or data of the
study from different respondents. This is because it easy and flexible to cope with the
Environment of the youth in Kabwe Town.

3.6.3. Observation.

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The researcher will observe both direct and indirect about the study because the nature of
adolescents, some of them may not feel well once they realize being observed especially t he
school teens like drug abusers. This will enable to collect data simply from the respondents.

3.6.4. Focus Group Discussion.

The researcher also will use the focus group discussion in the collection of data because the
Researcher will have a short discussion with the participants who are suspected to have some
data concerning with the study.

3.7. Data Analysis Techniques.

Researcher will analyze data using different ways such as the use of charts, Questionnaire coding
key, Tables, which help a researcher to researcher to analyze data and to make summary of the
research work, through the use of tallying, also by using pilot study, will be applied as a
researcher will test his tools before data collection.

REFFERENCES.

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Alexander, C., Piazza, M. et al (2001). Peers, schools and adolescent cigarette
Smoking. Journal of adolescent Health, 29 (1).
Cook, J.P. and Moore, M.(1993) Drinking and schooling Journal of Health
Economics,12(4), 411-429.
Dee,T.S. and Evans, W.N. (2003). Teen drinking and educational attainment. Evidence
From two-sample instrumental variables estimates, journal of labor 21(1), 178-209.
Duarte, R., Escario J.J. and Molina, J.A. (2006). Marijuana consumption and school
Failure among Spanish students, Economics of Education Review, 25, 472-481.
Paschall,M.J, and Fereisthler, B. (2003). Does heavy drinking affect academic
performance in college? Evidence from a prospective study of high school achievers, in journal
of studies on Alcohol 64, 515-519.

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